Push
by Reylo Force Push
Summary: Pushed, like she had been pushed. Every day of her life, she had been pushed. She grit her teeth and leveled her eyes with his. She had learned how to push back. And she did. ( Reylo interrogation scene; 3 chapter fic in progress, , first chapter K , 3rd chapter M)


"You know I can take whatever I want."

A flash of pain, and then another of Finn, of BB-8, of sand and hunger. She felt him, in her mind. This… intruder. It shivered with excitement at the power it had over her. It searched. It pushed.

Pushed, like she had been pushed. Every day of her life, she had been pushed. She grit her teeth and leveled her eyes with his. She had learned how to push back. And she did.

* * *

" _ **Why?"**_ The word crashed into his head so loud and so clear it knocked the breath from his chest. It was her, somehow, and she was inside, and he had to stagger; swallow air before throwing himself back against—

" _ **Why?"**_ came again and sparks of light exploded behind his eyes. Earnest. Unrelenting. It was the voice of an archangel, wielding a flaming sword.

Bathed in light, it picked through his memories, pulling at his most secret places with long, slow fingers, as if to say— _"Yes, you. I see you. How does this feel?"_

He realized, all at once, the answer was _alive._

* * *

She learned him in snapshots. Single frame nightmares. Too much. He felt too much or nothing at all, everything at once. Constant. Always.

She gasped for air in a sea of rage and was swept under, spinning into a depth that could only be endless, and just as she realized how easy it would be to drown, the sea was gone, and she was in a black room, and in that darkness there was despair, despair so deep and familiar it brought her to her knees.

She sunk into sand, and as she looked up, a desert stretched itself out before her, gray and wrapped in darkness. It took a moment before she registered the cold. Her eye felt strange, and when she touched it, she found her lashes had frozen together. There was nothing here, and outside their minds, she saw his face go blank. He pushed harder.

* * *

He saw her. Her essence. As close as he could from the distance she fought to keep between them. That light. That compassion. It was infectious. Too bright—and too familiar. It burned him, curling about his mind in a way that whispered— _"witness: what you could have been."_

Harder.

A thousand notches on a wall, each one marking another day abandoned. Loved ones. Family. He felt her fold into herself at this discovery, weakened by her pain. He understood.

"So lonely. At night, desperate to sleep." Something small and strange twinged in his chest, and he paused, realizing he had moved close to her. Their faces were nearly touching. Sweat shimmered on her brow, momentarily fascinating him.

"Get out of my head—"

"Don't be afraid," he heard himself murmur. "I feel it too."

* * *

The emptiness around her roared, the kind of empty you hear in seashells, the kind of empty you hear when you push your hands down hard over your ears. Rushing blood, and roaring empty.

A pit. Bottomless. Gaping, gnawing emptiness. She dug her hands into the earth as she watched it pull sand and debris inside like a black hole. Always hungry. Never full. Desperate.

Terrified. He was terrified.

 _Of what?_

 _ **Of Everything**_ , the maelstrom screamed.

And standing on the edge of that maw, Darth Vader. Unaffected by the gnashing, his cloak still as a mast in a windless sea. His specter sent chills down her spine.

And she knew.

"You're afraid… You're afraid that you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader."

His eyes opened wide in wonder, expression twisting with pain. He lowered his hand from her face.

They stared, defiant and vulnerable. He opened his mouth, once, and closed it again. Then he stood.

He left her there. She stayed inside him, that light touching every insecurity, every doubt. Intrusive. Intoxicating. Undeniable.

 **" _Witness_ ,"** it commanded again, as he straightened, wiping sweat from his brow and replacing his helmet. **" _Witness me, and know what you could have been_."**


End file.
